in the loop
realtime news and advance word
John Kilduff, Let’s Paint TV
photo courtesy of the artists
John Kilduff, Let’s Paint TV
electrofringe 2009
Now up to its 12th incarnation, the recently announced program for Electrofringe 2009 leaves no doubt that its agenda to celebrate the emergent and extraordinary within the media arts landscape remains firm. There are over 55 events including artist and project presentations, panels, screenings, gigs and exhibitions. Highlights are many, including Temp° Sauna, a mobile DIY sauna built in Civic Park by Mika Meskanen (Finland); the collaborative multimedia mayhem of John Kilduff’s Let’s Paint TV (US); large scale projections over Newcastle’s cityscape by Suburban Giants; and an attempt to soundproof the city by Lauren Brown. The gigs are particularly varied, ranging from the Kontakte, a concert by Ensemble Offspring with Pimmon at the Newcastle Conservatorium, to the usual rowdy TINA Showcases at the Cambridge Hotel, to Quiet Appreciation sessions at Renew Newcastle Church.
What distinguishes Electrofringe most is its emphasis on skills development and this year you can learn how to create your own virtual world through OpenSim with Andrew Burrell; make plastic sing with Guillaume Potard; explore telepresence with S.W.A.M.P (US); and hack your mobile phone with Christian Haines (US). There’s also a plentiful supply of panel discussions, with several focusing on tactics for survival for endangered media artists. And if that’s not enough, Ben Denham may actually be able to convince you to fly! But there’s even more—Electrofringe is but one of five festivals in that magnificent monster, the This Is Not Art Festival, which will be celebrating its 10th birthday.
Electrofringe & This Is Not Art, Oct 1-5, Newcastle, NSW http://www.electrofringe.net http://www.thisisnotart.org/
Ensemble Offspring, Electrofringe 2009
photo courtesy of the artists
Ensemble Offspring, Electrofringe 2009
wayfarer v 2: urban agents, melbourne
Media artist Kate Richards and performer Martyn Coutts are taking their locative, multiplayer media game, Wayfarer, to Melbourne after successfully premiering version 1 for Performance Space at Sydney’s CarriageWorks (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue81/8720). Version 1 was played by audiences tracking and directing a group of performers. In version 2, this time on the streets, the audience who sign on become the performers.
In the artists’ words, “teams of urban agents armed with mobile phones…will create and enact socially responsible experiences—large or small, planned or improvised including art projects, urban renewal, improvisation and drifting, liminal explorations, parkour and skate, gifting, green living/carbon neutrality/light footprint, flash mobs—anyway and anywhere they want to engage ethically and positively in the city. Videos of the experiences are steamed from players’ mobile phones directly to the Wayfarer website. Here web visitors, futurists and expert commentators in the field of social media will view, discuss and vote on the videos and drive a broader discussion about social responsibility.”
For information and to register to play, go to www.wayfarer.net.au or info@wayfarer.net.au; Arts Centre, Melbourne, Oct 26-31, Nov 2-7
andante workshop, melbourne
Tashmadada, Open Channel and ACAPTA are inviting physical theatre practitioners, actors, dancers, circus performers, production personnel, riggers, multi-media artists, musicians and costume and set designers to Andante, a 10-day workshop with Younes Bachir, actor and collaborator with the Spanish performance company La Fura dels Baus. The workshop will culminate in a public performance. “Younes will expose the participating artists to his personal experience with Furas dels Baus of the different dramatic, plastic and spatial skills involved in the realization of their performances.” In his 15 years with the company he has participated in developing a performance language, Furan, “based in the synergy between disciplines and the coexistence of different techniques and perspectives to theatre.”
Andante, Open Channel Shed 4, Docklands, Melbourne, Nov 4-14;
For more information contact Deborah:info@tashmadada.com; or Gail: gailkelly@acapta.net
lynette wallworth: connected by light, ABC TV
A documentary on an Australian new media artist is a rarity indeed, so it’s heartening to see that ABC TV will be screening Connected by Light. The film documents the artist’s career and creations with a focus on her exhibition, Duality of Light, at Adelaide’s Samstag Museum early in 2009 as part of the Adelaide Film Festival and scheduled for the 2010 Sydney Festival. ABC1, Sept 22; ABC2, Nov1,10pm
rong rong and chinese photography
If you were intrigued by Dan Edwards’ account of the first major photographic gallery in China in RealTime 92 (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue92/9512), you’ll want to read the full interview with Rong Rong, co-director of Beijing’s Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue92/9557).
lucas abela: the interview
In RealTime 92, Gail Priest and Dan Edwards reported on Lucas Abela’s visit to China where he toured with his first band, a collaboration with Chinese artists. In the interview with Priest (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue92/9556), Abela elaborates on his Asialink residency and where it will take his work in Australia.
RealTime issue #92 Aug-Sept 2009 pg.
